Rafael Nadal had complained that he was unfairly named the No. 3 seed in the tournament despite having a world ranking of No. 2, while Federer, who’s third in the ATP rankings, will be seeded second at SW19.
That means that Federer cannot play No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic until a potential final while Nadal could meet Novak Djokovic in the semis.
Roger Federer was asked in a news conference what he made of Nadal’s comments – and the Swiss star stated that in order to win the whole tournament, you have to beat the best.
“I don’t know what you want me to tell you. The system is the way it is. It used to be different,” he said.
“I don’t know, I guess it was different also before that. There’s not much we the players can add to the story, other than we just deal with it.
“At the end of the day, if you want to win the tournament, you got to go through all the players that are in front of you. And now that the draw is out, we move on.
“But we knew that the system was in place. I guess the system is, you know, it rewards you for playing a lot on the grass, well on grass.”
Federer then admitted he may have benefitted from the fact he’s played more grass court tennis than Nadal, who recently won his 12th French Open title.
“I guess I benefited from that. That was not part of my plan the last few years. Just happens that this year I get bumped up. Kevin Anderson got bumped up,” he added.
“Back in the day, it was tougher. Guys who were seeded became unseeded. So that was a bigger storyline I think than this one.
“Just happens that Rafa obviously went down, so I think that makes the news. With social media nowadays, they love it (smiling).”
Federer will be looking to win his ninth Wimbledon title and his 21st Grand Slam while Nadal will be looking to make it two Slams on the trot.
Djokovic, who won last year at the All England Club, is the early favourite to come out on top of his foes.
The Serb and Nadal shared an iconic semi-final match-up last year which spanned two days of action.
Djokovic sits three Slams behind Nadal and a further two back from Federer.